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PATENT SYSTEM 


FOR 


DISINFECTING AND UTILIZING 


NIGHT-SOIL 

FOR THE 


IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, AGRICULTURE 
AND POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



BY 

/ \ 



vTTTXjITTS b. dotch, 

n 

Technical Chemist. 


07-3V737 


WASHINGTON, D. C.: 

R. BERESFORD, PRINTER, 1719 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE. 

1871 . 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 










SANITAEY 


In the report of the English Parliamentary Commission, insti¬ 
tuted for the purpose of testing the best method of utilizing human 
manure from sewers, the mode of carrying the sewerage through 
pipes and depositing it upon waste lands, for the purpose of irriga¬ 
tion, was considered the best. 

It is by no means a favorable indication when the same genera¬ 
tion which produced an invention has also to admit its great defects. 
The originators are unwilling, or, at least, slow, to admit their mis¬ 
take, which is easily understood, and, in a great measure, excused, 
and this illustrated by the fact that after all the voluminous writ¬ 
ings and arguments in favor of the London system the very Parlia¬ 
mentary Commission, instituted for its investigation, did unani¬ 
mously condemn the whole system of sewerage. 

Nothing was more natural than that great beneficial results were 
anticipated from a system which, superficially looked upon, was 
based upon such simple principles. “ Let,” said they, “ the fecal 
matter run continually through a good cemented sewer with an 
abundant flow of water—the more water the better—and that solves 
the whole question.” In answer to the inquiry, where shall the 
ingredients flow to, they replied, with an air of triumph, “ to the 
nearest harbor or river pointed out by nature to receive our super- 
flous fluids.” This all looked so very plausible that it was almost 
everywhere adopted. Enormous sums, particularly in England, 
were expended, not only for the building of sewers, but also for 
supplying the necessary amount of water for carrying it through 




4 


the pipes, and the increase or decrease in the supply of water for 
this purpose was considered a measuring point of civilization. 

But notwithstanding all well-meant laudations, it soon became 
apparent that the fundamental j^rinciple upon which the sewerage 
system of England was based was an entirely false one, and was 
attended with injurious effects even under the most favorable cir¬ 
cumstances. 

The first objection was the pollution of rivers and harbors, which 
increased so fearfully that it was found impossible to take drinking 
water therefrom. Even the very fishes died from suffocation, for 
the simple reason that all free oxygen of the water was consumed 
by the oxydation of the organic substances. All possible means 
were tried to prevent the pollution of the rivers, but to no avail. 
Neither chemical lior mechanical appliances produced any beneficial 
results, and the only thing left Was to make use of the sewerage for 
agricultural purposes. 

In one of the reports of the Parliamentary Commission, above 
referred to, it is stated that oil one 6f the rivers, in which the 
contents of the Sewerage pipes were deposited, a perfect crust was 
formed, over which birds could walk. The adoption of chemical 
or mechanical means for the purpose of purifying the water of such 
rivers, instead of striking directly at the root of the evil, furnishes 
a new illustration of the confounding of cause and effect. 

A further objection was the dangerous exhalation of the gases 
from the sewers, as the feces coming in contact with water or air 
develop those volatile combinations. To illustrate this more clearly : 
the decomposition, putrefaction, and oxydation commences almost 
immediately when the fecal matter is brought in contact with water 
or air, accompanied by the formation of fungoid growth: The 
developed gases are carbonic acid, ammonia, sulphide of carbon, 
sulphuretted and carburetted hydrogen, all of which, even in a 
very diluted state, are deleterious to health, but in a concentrated 
form produce instant death. # 

Further, just as dangerous, if not more, are those microscopic 
fungi, developing everywhere upon decaying matter, and sending 
their spores up in the atmosphere, where they, floating around like 
saw-dust, and being inhaled or coming in any other Way into the 


5 


interior of the body, may produce various diseases. Cholera, 
typhoid, yellow fever, small-pox, &c., have lately been recognized 
as the consequence of the development of a specific fungus for every 
such epidemic disease. 

The supposition that the formation of the obnoxious gases, as well 
as the growth of the fungi, can be prevented by the addition of 
large quantities of water is entirely erroneous. The free oxygen of 
the water promotes decomposition as well as the oxygen of the air, 
only a little slower; but the more water the more oxygen, and the 
quicker the process goes on. If a small quantity of fecal matter in 
an ordinary chamber utensil is diluted with \tater, in a few days, 
according to the exterior temperature, the whole mass will decom¬ 
pose and emit an awful stench. This will continue until all the 
organic matter is oxydised, after which the inorganic constituents will 
be left. 

The idea that water will prevent the decomposition of fecal mat¬ 
ter must have had its origin in the nursery room. There it is a 
common practice to use water to prevent bad odors. The truth is, 
as before explained, that by the use of water the gases are absorbed 
in the beginning till the water becomes saturated, so that if the 
fecal matter be diluted with water, .and not allowed to remain too 
long in the room, the air will only be poisoned to a slight extent. 
However, after a time, when the water becomes saturated with the 
gases, the result is even worse, inasmuch as the water, by dissolving 
a part of the feces, increases the active surface, and brings about, in 
a great degree, the putrefaction and action of the air upon the feces. 

It is well known that captains of vessels are often compelled to 
take in impure drinking-water from the mouths of rivers. In the 
barrels, promoted by the rolling of the ship, the above-described 
process goes on, and the water, as well as the space in wdiich the 
barrels are stowed, is poisoned to a dreadful degree. 

A subterranean sewer is filled in its whole length with water 
charged with organic matter. Everywhere this fermentation goes 
on; the bubbles continually rising can be seen with the naked eye. 
.Between the level of the fluid and the sewer the gas accumulates, 
which escapes through the air-holes in the sidewalks or any other 
opening, and in that way is inhaled by the people. There is abso- 


0 


6 


lutely no remedy to prevent the escape of those gases and the 
fungoid spores. The smallest crack in the walls would be sufficient 
to allow them to escape, and the most complicated closures have, 
after some time, proved useless. 

The effect of the water is purely mechanical, and is only expected 
to prevent the great accumulation of fecal matter. Practical experi¬ 
ence has proven that this is only imperfectly done, even when large 
quantities of water are at our disposal, and the repeated and con¬ 
tinual failures in this regard are all attributed to the insufficiency 
of water. 

It is not necessary to prove that there never will be a sufficient 
quantity of water to keep sewers clean. It is argued that what one 
million gallons cannot effect ten millions may; but no city has ever 
yet been able to obtain water enough for that purpose. 

The danger of the exhaling gases cannot be disputed—they are 
simply poisonous. Many console themselves with the belief that 
these exhalations cannot be so dangerous, because their olfactories 
are not always able to distinguish them. Human beings have been 
compared to animals, step-motherly treated. Our organs of smell 
are not always very acute. One can live in a neighborhood where 
cholera or typhus are epidemic without distinguishing a difference 
in the inhaled air between that of a healthy neighborhood. The 
London Medical Times, which treats this question purely in a sani¬ 
tary view, (March 23, 1861, p. 306,) gives this good advice in 
selecting residences or homesteads : 

“ Take no rooms in the neighborhood of a principal sewer, because 
it is an established fact that a greater mortality and more sickness 
exists on the line of great sewers than in any other place, and this 
is caused by the dangerous air escaping from the air-holes and other 
crevices.” And again, (in February, 1861, p. 202:) “ Do our 

readers know how the sewers are ventilated ? Have you not had 
the misfortune to live near a grate, from which, on cool mornings, 
a vapor arises which creates an intolerable stench ? Now, these 
grates are the mouths from which the obnoxious matter from 
decomposing feces eminate, to be wafted through the streets into our 
houses. Do not forget that these gases, in a concentrated form, 
produce instantaneous death. In a statistical table compiled by 


I 


Chief Engineer Conrad, in Holland, it is shown that the mortality 
in one thousand inhabitants is thirty-five, and that twenty out of 
this number die of diseases which have their origin solely by inhal¬ 
ing impure air and the use of impure water.” 

Hie Chief Sanitary Inspector of Holland, Dr. Egeling, estimates 
that twenty thousand people die yearly in the Netherlands on 
account of the impurity of the air and water. In places where the 
water is pure and the air is not poisoned by the exhalations from 
excrements the mortality does not reach fifteen in every one thou¬ 
sand. These statistics prove that in a city of one hundred thousand 
inhabitants one thousand five hundred die yearly in consequence of 
the imperfectness of the sanitary system in the removal of excre¬ 
ments, &c., and besides the actual deaths, if we take into account 
the vast amount of disease w T hich prevent men from following their 
ordinary occupations, and which, in a great measure, arise from the 
same influences, it will be clearly seen that it is the duty of all 
legislative bodies, having charge of the public health, to introduce 
as early as possible a change. 

Medical Director, Dr. Stieber, of Berlin, in his work on the 
canalization of Berlin, (1866, p. 51,) says: “In juxtaposition to 
the natural removal of excrements to the country, which has been 
done instinctively from time immemorial, is the idea of sew T erage in 
cities, which has grown to be a real mania, if we take into account 
that, with an expense of millions, with the greatest engineering 
talent employed, with the overcoming of the greatest technical 
objections, to build subterranean labyrinths, which possess no other 
merit than to remove the excrements from our eyes, and give them, 
in their progress through miles of sewers, the best opportunity, 
under the influence of water, by the finest distribution, to accele¬ 
rate decomposition, to conduct the poisonous sewer-gases directly 
into our houses, to carry the water, saturated with foul particles 
and charged with gases, down the river, to diminish the capacity 
of production and vegetation, and to poison, in the course of one 
year, hundreds of our fellow-beings by the use.of impure water.” 

In view of these facts we may be pardoned if we term the expen¬ 
diture of millions of dollars every year for sewers a spendthrift 
measure, the loss of the manure a robbery, and the poisoning of the 


8 


air and water an encroachment on the health of the people, not only 
for the present, but for the future. 

A reference to the official report of Messrs. Haywood and Bazal- 
getter, English Royal Engineers, (see reports Metropolitan Board 
of Public Works, 1865-66, pp. 121-132,) will show the many 
different experiments made to improve the ventilation of the sewers, 
but all of them convinced the Parliamentary Commission that even 
by the best methods the result has never justified the enormous 
cost, and that no other way could be found than to allow the gases 
for the future to continue to escape from the middle of the streets, 
and that to burn the gases by means of high chimneys would take 
two hundred and fifty furnaces for the city of London alone, at the 
cost of two millions of dollars, and a yearly cost of half a million 
for fuel, exclusive of the cost of labor, &c. 

To disinfect the sewers of a large city chemically would be a 
worse undertaking than emptying the ocean with buckets. If we 
were to inquire of the native African, living remote from any signs 
of civilization, as to what remedy he would suggest against the 
dangerous gases which are generated during the decomposition of 
the feces passing through the sewers, the answer of the son of nature 
would undoubtedly be : “ Don’t pour any more feces in.” Not a 
very ingenious or philosophical argument, but, nevertheless, a very 
striking one. The removal of human excrements by means of 
sewerage does not fulfil its purpose—the whole system rests on an 
incredible narrowmindedness. * The object is to carry off the refuse 
as quick as possible out of the reach of human habitations, but this 
is effected so imperfectly that, in many cases, it is removed from 
one house at the cost and detriment of others. In addition to this, 
let us look at the immense expense. To carry off the feces through 
pipes, three hundred times its quantity of water is necessary. Four 
thousand tons of human excrement consequently requires one mil¬ 
lion two hundred thousand tons of water, even under the present 
imperfect method. The present system of sewerage acts as a 
destructive agent in a two-fold manner—the water destroys the 
feces as manure, and the feces pollute the water; in other words, 
we pay fabulous sums of money for destroying the very article 
which, if properly treated, would be worth millions of dollars. 

Parturiunt monies, nascitur—ridiculus mus. 


9 


It is evident that fecal matter should not be allowed to run into 
the sewers in that way ; it is entirely lost to agriculture, for which 
it is by nature designed. It has, therefore, become an imperative 
necessity that measures should be adopted by which this offensive 
matter can be collected without detriment to the public health, and 
applied directly for the purposes of agriculture, and no system is 
complete which does not fulfil these requirements. The present 
method of carting away the night-soil is most objectionable. The 
horrible smell during warm weather—nay, at all times—and the 
still more outrageous stench during the operation of emptying the 
receptacles in which it is kept, is most disgusting and loathsome to 
all those w T ho come in contact with it. The very occupation of a 
scavenger is most revolting to the nature of any human being. 
The stench and disagreeable odor is entirely destroyed by the appli¬ 
cation of my patent mixture. Sinks or pits must be condemned. 
The ingredients kept in them for months, and even years, lose most 
of their value for manure. 


Recapitulation. 

First we have a complicated water-closet and water-conducting 
contrivance, the expenditure of millions of dollars for sewers, which 
give us back a great portion of the obnoxious matter in their devious 
course, finding their way into our lungs, attended by known results; 
then millions of dollars for conducting immense quantities of water 
from a distance (in some instances) of many miles, or with the help 
of powerful engines to pump the water out of rivers, &c.; and, again, 
at the cost of enormous sums of money, to conduct in pipes for 
hundreds of miles a material too diluted to be of a practical use. 
And as the result of all this enormous outlay, we have typhus all the 
year round ; cholera visits us yearly for a shorter or longer period, 
and small-pox is fearfully on the increase; when, if this matter was 
properly understood and its importance fully realized, not only 
could this vast expenditure be saved, but the health of the people 
improved, and the agricultural interests greatly benefitted. 



10 


There is certainly, since the world began, no parallel in which 
common sense and reason have been so much wanting as on this 
particular subject, and in time to come this will stand as a unicum 
in the history of human aberrations, and coming generations will 
laugh to scorn our folly. 


AGRICULTURAL REVIEW. 


To the scientific character of the nineteenth century we owe the 
discovery of the conditions which govern vegetable life, and the most 
important investigations regarding the perpetual fertility of the 
soil. 

Agricultural chemistry was first elevated to a scientific character 
by the greatest chemist of the age—Professor Justus Yon Liebig. 
In earlier ages many erroneous ideas governed the field of agricul¬ 
ture. We know at the present time that the organic matter of 
plants is built- up from carbonic acid, water, and ammonia, under the 
influence of the rays of the sun, and that the mineral matter con¬ 
tained in plants—especially as regards the cereals—is not a matter 
of accident, but, on the contrary, they play a very important role 
in the vital process of vegetables. 

Carbonic acid and ammonia are, to a certain extent, present in the 
atmosphere. If this food is provided to a large extent plants will 
increase in growth and quality, and will reach their greatest develop¬ 
ment in a much shorter space of time than they would in the absence 
of these mineral substances.j^ Both conditions must be united for 
the welfare of vegetation. When certain mineral properties are 
wanting in the soil the nutriment of the plant is imperfect, and the 
seed will never reach maturity or will not be found at all. 

History furnishes us with many examples* where the exhaustion 


*Many flourishing countries in olden times, such as Sicily, Sardinia, Pales¬ 
tine, and the formerly fertile coast of Northern Africa, are not far removed from 
being deserts in our day, and are at the present time inhabited by a demoralized 
race. 


J (fait , 


t %nt J) t-eat-KY'. 

I ' f /• £ 





11 


of the soil was followed by the extinction or migration of the people. 
It is a principal law of nature to return to the soil, under cultiva¬ 
tion, that which we take from it in mineral properties, in order 
to sustain and keep up a perfect state of fertility. Many mineral 
substances, necessary for the growth of vegetables, are present in 
great abundance, as, for example, lime, while others, and just the 
most important one—phosphoric acid—especially necessary for the 
development of seed, is only contained to a very limited extent 
in the soil. The excreta of man and animals contain all the mineral 
matters formerly contained in their food. It is, therefore, obvious 
and most natural, yet more, an absolute necessity, to return this 
excreta to the soil.* 

In this excreta we have all the means of improving the fertility 
of the soil, and thereby enhancing our own prosperity ; and what 
an immense amount of this valuable article is every year destroyed 
in our cities, and becomes lost to the most important of all purposes 
—that of agriculture. When we take into consideration that we 
pay enormous sums annnally in transporting from distant climes 
a guano, which is nothing else than the feces of birds, it does seem 
most inconsistent, and even rediculous, that we discard contempt- 
ously the very article in our own cities. 

Professor Liebig says : “ The coming generation will consider 

those men as the greatest benefactors of mankind who devote all 
their efforts to utilize and save the night-soil of the cities.” Poud- 
rette works have been established in the United States, Germany, 
France, and England, but none have ever yet united the sanitary 
with the agricultural interests. Some trials have been made to 
employ iron salts for disinfecting the night-soil, but such a poud- 
rette is almost valueless. Other trials were made with lime, which 
only caused the loss of the ammonia, and had no disinfecting value 
whatever. In this regard Dotch’s patent process surpasses anything 
yet introduced. It consists in the application of a prepared earth, 

♦Fresh feces contain an average of twenty-five per cent, of solid matter and 
seventy-five per cent, of water. The mineral matters consist of one-third of 
phosphoric acid. Dried feces are, of course, much richer on account of having 
lost the water. A city of one hundred thousand inhabitants would yield per 
year one thousand three hundred tons dried feces, containing one hundred and 
twelve thousand pounds of phosphoric acid. 



12 


JJBRARV of congress 


0 022 206 676'1 


containing clay, sulphuric acid, and nitric acid, which is spread in 
thin layers over the fresh feces.* 

By this means not only is the formation of fungoid growth 
effectually prevented, but also all the ammonia is taken up on ac¬ 
count of the sulphuric acid; and the sulphuretted hydrogen 
developed from the feces will be entirely destroyed by the nitric 
acid present in the patent earth. There is no better mixture com¬ 
bining both these advantages simultaneously, and, furthermore, the 
sulphuric acid attacking the clay in the prepared earth will set a 
part of the silicious matter free, which, assuming a soluble state, is 
of the greatest direct use to the cereals, inasmuch as it is wanted for 
the formation of a supporting stem. 

Thus we have combined all that is required in a sanitary point of 
view, with the greatest possible advantage to the purposes of agri¬ 
culture. We have a poudrette rich in ammonia containing soluble 
silica without emitting any bad odor. Besides, the nitrogen of the 
nitric acid, as well as the sulphur of the sulphuric acid, are sub¬ 
stances directly assimilable by the plants for the formation of 
albuminous matters, which always contain sulphur and nitrogen. 
The above-mentioned acids work beneficially upon the soil in ren¬ 
dering mineral matters soluble previously not soluble. 

As agriculture is the foundation of human life, and necessary for 
the development of industry and commerce, as well as science and 
art, it must be obvious to every reasoning mind that there is no 
subject of such vital importance, and none which calls more eagerly 
for the employment of our best efforts to sustain this principal 
source of our wealth ; and this patented process may justly be con¬ 
sidered as an important improvement, and worthy of the highest 
consideration. 


*The clay and earth are such as to contain no admixture of carbonates, as 
these would neutralize the acids. S0 3 ,N0 5 . 


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